Dropzone Commander- UCM Army Structure

Right, call me a “saddo” but I do like to ensure my gaming armies follow some sort of structure. The reason for this is two- I can paint the miniatures with particular insignia aiding battlefield recognition and I can forge a better narrative with regard to the history of my particular units.

With Dropzone Commander there is a very organised (if rather complicated) battlegroup structure to ensure your army has a good spread of the required units for a typical battle. Battlegroups are groups of units which combine for a specific purpose on the battlefield. For example, you may have an infantry unit which combines with an APC unit and a dropship unit for transport plus a gunship unit for air support.

Although you have groups of units brought together for specific field operations, the actual units are part of their own corps or regiment. This aids unit cohesion and ensures the men in the unit itself work and train together even if they do end up fighting alongside other units they may not have worked with before.

The DZC rulebook does give a nice break down of the UCM army and fleet structures and I used this to create an initial structure tree:

UCM Forces

• UCM Army (UCMA)
  • Army HQ (AHQ)
  • Colonial Legionnaire Corps (CLC)
  • Colonial Armoured Corps (CAC)
  • Army Air and Space Corps (AASC)
• UCM Fleet (UCMF)
  • Admiralty*
  • Orbital Defence Command*
  • Colonial Battlefleets*
  • Fleet Air Arm
  • Colonial Marine Corps*

* denotes branches which are not involved directly on the battlefield and so will not be considered further here. However, they may take a part in the new Dropfleet Commander game which is currently in the Kickstarter phase.

After some research of the basic structure in the British Army I found the following definitions broadly in use (these are very loose guidelines)

Corps: ~50,000 men

Division: ~ 20,000 men

Brigade: ~ 5,000 men

Regiment: ~ 1,000 men

Battalion: ~ 500 men

Company: ~ 100 men

Platoon: ~ 15-30 men

Squad/section: ~ 8-14 men

Clearly these layers are too many for the purpose of the game and also it’s set in the far future so the definitions would probably have stretched. I have generally used the following levels:

• Corps/Regiment: 50,000 men
  • Brigade: 5,000 men
    • Battalion: 500 men
      • Company: 100 men
        • Squad: 5-15 men

The rulebook mentions that Colonial Legions contain roughly 1,000,000 men and so I would envisage each Legion contain 20 Corps possibly hailing from different quarters of their own planet.

So far, I’ve organised my current army (underlined and bold) as per the structure below. Future additions will be added to the structure as I go.

UCM Forces

• UCM Army (UCMA)
  • Army HQ (AHQ)
    • Army Command Battalion
      • 33rd Field Command Unit: Colonial Lieutenant with Kodiak command vehicle
    • Army Scout Brigade
    • Praetorian Regiment
  • Colonial Legionnaire Corps (CLC)
    • Ferrum Legions
      • Ferrum IVth Legion: Twenty corps (900,000)
        • 1st North West Corps: Ten brigades (45,000)
          • 5th Brigade: Ten battalions (4500)
            • 4th Battalion: Five companies  (450)
              • 3rd Company: Six squads (90)
                • Alpha squad: 15 Legionnaire squad
                • Beta squad: 15 Legionnaire squad
    • Legions from other homeworlds
  • Colonial Armoured Corps (CAC): 4 Regiments
    •  Cavalry Regiment: 10 Brigades
      • 7th Cavalry Brigade (Sabre): 10 Battalions
        • 5th Battalion: 10 Companies
          • 8th Company: 10 Squads
            • 8th Squad: 3 x Sabre tanks (3)
    • Anti-Air Regiment: 10 Brigades (30,000)
      • 5th Anti-Air Brigade (Rapier): 10 Battalions
        • 3rd Battalion: 10 Companies
          • 6th Company: 10 Squads
            • 2nd Squad: 3 x Rapier tanks (3)
    • Heavy Artillery Regiment: (30,000)
      • Heavy Artillery Battalions (Gladius & Scimitar)
    • Logistics Regiment: 10 Brigades (30,000)
      • 5th Logistics Brigade (Bear): 10 Battalions
        • 2nd Battalion: 10 Companies
          • 4th Company: 10 Squads
            • 1st Squad: 2 x Bear APCs
  • Army Air and Space Corps (AASC)
    • Heavy Lift Brigade (Albatross)
    • Medium Lift Brigade (Condor) 10 battalions (4,000)
      • 5th Battalion: 10 companies (400)
        • 8th Company: 10 squads (40)
          • 3rd Squad: 4 x Condor dropships (4)
    • Light Lift Brigade (Raven)
    • Air Support Brigade (Falcon): 10 battalions (2,000)
      • 4th Battalion: 10 companies (200)
        • 2nd Company: 10 squads (20)
          • 1st Squad: 2 x Falcon gunships (2)
• UCM Fleet (UCMF)
  • Fleet Air Arm
    • Fighter Command (Archangel)
    • Strike Command (Seraphim)
    • Air Logistical Corps*

* as above

The above army contains enough for a decent skirmish army of around 800 points.